Tamagnini Manuel Gomes Batista (born 20 November 1949), known as Nené (), is a retired Portuguese professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

. A prolific striker, he played his entire career with Benfica, appearing in nearly 600 official games for the club and winning 19 titles, a record for several years. Playing 66 times for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

and scoring 22 goals, Nené represented the nation at Euro 1984.

Club career

Born in Leça da Palmeira, Nené made his professional debuts with S.L. Benfica in 1968 and remained a key fixture with the club until his retirement almost twenty years later, at nearly 37. In the 1972–73 season, he was a star player for a side which became

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

champion without a single defeat (28 matches won – 23 consecutively – out of 30): the team scored 101 goals, breaking 100 for only the second time in its history. Nené was the Portuguese Footballer of the Year in 1971 and also runner-up in 1972, which was achieved whilst competing with teammate

Eusébio Eusébio da Silva Ferreira (; 25 January 1942 – 5 January 2014), nicknamed the "Black Panther", the "Black Pearl" or "O Rei" ("The King"), was a Portuguese Association football, footballer who played as a Forward (association football)#Stri ...

. He ranked second in Benfica's scoring lists in European competitions with 28 goals in 75 appearances, and played in the 1982–83 UEFA Cup finals, in an aggregate loss to R.S.C. Anderlecht. As a player, Nené won 11 national championships with his only club. After ending his career, with overall totals of 577 games and 361 goals, he became a youth coach at the Estádio da Luz.

International career

Nené earned 66 caps for

, ranking joint-ninth (with Simão Sabrosa) in the goalscoring charts at 22. He was their record appearance maker until 1994, when it was broken by

FC Porto Futebol Clube do Porto, Order of Prince Henry, MHIH, Order of Merit (Portugal), OM (), commonly known as FC Porto or simply Porto, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in Porto. It is best known for the professional association footbal ...

's João Domingos Pinto. Nené made his debut on 21 April 1971, in a 2–0 home win against

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

for the UEFA Euro 1972 qualifiers. Selected for the Euro 1984 tournament, he netted the game's only goal against

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

in the last group stage encounter, becoming the oldest player to score in the European championship finals at 34 years and 213 days; his effort led the national team to the semi-finals versus hosts

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where he played as a substitute but could not help avoid the 2–3

extra time Overtime (OT) or extra time (ET) is an additional period of play to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played only if the game is required t ...

defeat. Nené's record was only broken 24 years later, when Ivica Vastić scored for

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

at Euro 2008 against

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

International goals

Honours

Club

;Benfica * Primeira Divisão(10): 1968–69, 1970–71, 1971–72, 1972–73, 1974–75, 1975–76, 1976–77, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1983–84 *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; ) is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

(7): 1969–70, 1971–72, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1982–83, 1984–85, 1985–86 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

* Taça de Honra Lisbon FA (8)

Individual

* Portuguese League: Top Scorer 1980–81, 1983–84Top Goal Scorers – Portugal
at Sports Records * Portuguese Footballer of the Year: 1971

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nene 1949 births Living people Footballers from Matosinhos Portuguese men's footballers Men's association football forwards Primeira Liga players S.L. Benfica footballers Portugal men's international footballers UEFA Euro 1984 players 20th-century Portuguese sportsmen